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SOCIAL MEDIA

Hey
everyone! It feels like forever since I have sat down and written a post. I’m
either feeding or rocking a baby or using the spare 5 minutes I’ve found to
shower or make something for everyone to eat, haha.

Baby
girl is now almost 8 weeks old! I seriously can’t believe how quickly time is
passing since her birth. She is an absolute dream baby, but we laugh because
she is totally chill until she wants to be fed and then she wants it RIGHT
AWAY! (kinda similar to her birth….when she was ready, she was ready, haha)

I received product compliment of DockATot

I
am still getting used to having two children. I do honestly feel that this
transition has been so much easier than transitioning to one child, anyone else
feel that way? But it has been so nice having my husband home and being able to
just focus on our children and enjoying each other. He goes back to work next
week and I am honestly pretty nervous about doing everything on my own
(especially bedtime with a baby who pretty much just wants to be held and
rocked all evening). But I know that I’ll get better at it as time goes by.

One
thing that I know will be super helpful with naps and bedtime is our DockATot Deluxe, which is designed for ages 0-8 months. Baby girl loves to sleep in the
DockATot and I love that she feels so cozy in it. The DockATot is a
multi-functional lounger and co-sleeper. When she was not even a week old, we
would put the DockATot in the middle of our bed and that is where she slept at
night. I loved that she could be so close but that she had her own little space
as well.

She
now sleeps in the crib at night and uses her DockATot for naps (if we are not
holding her and getting all the sleepy cuddles) She naps so well in the
DockATot that I think it almost feels to her that she is still being held. It
is the ideal micro-climate for babies (and toddlers in the Grande!). It is made
with all natural 100% cotton and has been tested for breathability. Which is
super important for me when looking for something for my baby to sleep in! I
especially love that the cover can be removed and washed because blowouts,
haha.

Now
that she is getting older, she also loves to lounge in the DockATot with her
baby play gym above it. It is nice to have a safe place to put her especially
since we have a two-story apartment and I don't always want to run upstairs to
put her in her crib if I need to lay her down somewhere. She has a safe place
to nap downstairs so we can keep a close eye on her.

I
hope this review was helpful for you! If it was, please pin this image so that
it might be able to help other new mamas.

Sorry if this is totally all over the place. I
am writing it on my phone with talk to type whenever I manage to get time (aka,
sprinkled throughout the day while I’m nursing). Also, just a warning, it's a little long ;) And I had to share some maternity and newborn photos as well :)

When I first got pregnant my husband and I
looked into having a homebirth. It has always been something that I would like
to do, especially after having my son. However, things did not work out with
our midwife and I felt the best choice for us was to go with my OB/GYN and
deliver at the hospital that was right down the road so I would not have to be
too far from my first born. I have never spent a night away from him and knew I
would be anxious during the delivery and postpartum stay if I was too far away
from him. And delivering in the closer hospital meant my husband could go home and
be with our son overnight.

So I switched over to my OB/GYN who I had only
seen once before then when we were having trouble conceiving. (My doctor for my
son had retired shortly after I had my son and I had never looked for another).
I soon realized I did not like her as a doctor. It also bothered me that I
would not be able to meet the doctor who would actually deliver until I was in
my third trimester. I asked to meet him sooner but they always said his
schedule was full.

I later found out there was another midwife in
the area but by the time that I found this out and our insurance okayed me
going with her with a possible reimbursement,
it was too far along for us to make the payments that had to be done before the
delivery. So if you know you want to homebirth and you’re trying to conceive,
start saving now because they usually require you to pay cash and hope your
insurance will reimburse. =/

OK moving on, so during this pregnancy I did not
go to a birthing class because I went to two with my son and I just reviewed
the notes from my doulas birthing class that I took with him. I did however
spend time researching natural pain coping methods and one of my favorite books
that I read was called Holy Labor by Aubry G Smith. If anyone is looking for a
Faith based book on natural labor I highly
recommend this one. My goal for labor was to focus on Christ and remember that
He will never leave me and that He is with me during labor. I had some verses
written out and I played my favorite worship station when I started labor.

OK so during this pregnancy I had noticed that I
had a ton of Braxton Hicks contractions starting during my third trimester,
which was totally different than my first pregnancy because I had zero
contractions or false contractions until I actually went into labor. But once I
hit 37 weeks they completely stopped. I had a ton of pressure so I knew baby
girl had dropped but other than that I had no signs of labor up until the
Saturday before my due date. I woke up feeling when I was calling “tightenings
“. They were not painful or really uncomfortable but I would notice them
because I would have to stop and focus more on my breathing because of them.I texted my Doula to let her know, and then I
went about my day as normal. Which of course included 3 to 4 errands. The
tightening continued as I was running errands but when I got home I laid down
to take a nap and they stopped and I did not feel anymore for the rest of the
day.

That night as I was laying my son down I knew it
would be another rough night because he was recovering from a cold and when he
is sick he likes me to lay down with him in bed whenever he wakes up in the
middle of the night. I would do that and then sneak out when he fell asleep.That night he woke up about five times as I was
crawling onto the bed (which is sitting on the floor so I was getting
up-and-down from the floor basically) at 39 weeks pregnant; two days away from
my due date.I remember at one point I got frustrated with
him and told him that I would not be able to lay down with him because it was
difficult to get up and down and I could not sleep comfortably in his bed. At
that point it seems like he just wanted my company. He seemed a little upset
but was fine when I got up to go lay in my own bed. This was about midnight.I remember waking up again around 1 o’clock in
the morning noticing a slight pain in my back. I did not think much of it went
to the bathroom and laid back down. From about 1:00 to 3:30 I tossed and turned
in and out of sleep due to this pain in my back. Around 3:30 I finally came to
the conclusion that I was having contractions... back labor again. =/ I tried
to lay in bed for a little longer and attempted to sleep but they were much
more uncomfortable at that point and laying down was no fun. If you have had
back labor you know what I’m talking about.

So about 10 till 4:00 I decided to get up and
finish packing the last minute things I needed for my hospital bag. At that
point the contractions were much more noticeable but I was totally able to breathe
through them comfortably and was checking my phone and on Instagram in between
contractions. I did start timing them and had noticed that they were very close
together. They went between five and two minutes the whole time I was
monitoring them. But they were also very short (screen shot I sent my doula below) I decided to text my Doula and let her know that I was having
contractions but because I had such a long labor with my son I assumed I would
have plenty of time to be able to call her at a more decent hour.

After finishing packing my stuff upstairs, I
went downstairs to have a snack and I attempted to wash dishes in between
contractions, but they were coming so close together that it was difficult for
me to get many done in the breaks between contractions. It’s funny because I
always tried to have a clean sink before going to bed but that night we did not
have a chance to and I wanted to go to bed early because I knew my son will be
up and I would need to be with him a lot. Since they were so close together I
went upstairs to go tell my husband.

I woke my husband at about 5:00 and told him
that our baby girl is on her way. I remember having a very strong contraction
right after waking him. I remember thinking it
almost seems like I can feel myself dilating… and then as I was standing
next to the bed leaning over my husband and I remember having a long pause
without contractions as we talked about how excited we were to meet her. I
thought it was strange that I didn’t have any contractions for at least seven
minutes since they were coming every 2 to 3 minutes before. But they still were
not very strong and I was still breathing through them very comfortably.

We finished packing upstairs and I headed
downstairs. I have been leaning over my birthing ball during the contractions
and wanted to head down there again because they were picking up in intensity.
My husband started doing the dishes because he remembered me saying that I did
not want to come home to a sink full of dishes. Haha he’s the best! I finally told him that we should probably call
my Doula since I had not heard from her. At this point I told my husband to
call because I did not feel like I could talk because the contractions were
still very close together. I remember they picked up in intensity once I came
downstairs and I was becoming louder during the contractions to get through
them.

The entire time I was in labor I remember
telling myself to stay relaxed to not fight the contractions and to make a low “O”
sound during a contraction and to think of opening. These were all part of the
tips that I had read on techniques for natural labor. I remember a few more
times, during a contraction, thinking that I could feel myself dilating. I
almost thought that I just had an over active imagination, but now talking to
my Doula and realizing how quickly my labor went I’m pretty sure that I was able to feel that. Plus since having
my son I have just become much more aware of what’s going on with my body.

My husband was on the phone with my Doula and he
also noticed that I was getting louder during the contractions and he told her
that. She told us she would get up and get ready and be on her way soon. She
had about an hour commute. I mention something to my husband about texting his
parents because they were supposed to watch our son when we left for the hospital.
He said we should wait since they only had a 30-minute drive and it was pretty
early in the morning. I think maybe two or three contractions went by and I
told him to text them now. I knew my Doula could meet us at the hospital if we
had to go sooner, but I was not going to leave my toddler at home so I wanted
him to text them so they were here in time for us to leave.

This whole time I’m still thinking in my mind
that I have HOURS of labor to go. With my son I was in labor for almost 25
hours. I’ve heard with your second you can expect half that time so I was
thinking about 12, that would put me around 1:00 in the afternoon and it was
currently almost 6:00 am. (This whole labor was only 6 hours!)

My Doula texted at 6:00 saying she left and will
be there in an hour. And my in-laws were on their way as well. My husband
finished up a few last minute things and made his way over to put some counter
pressure on my hips and back during the contractions. I remember telling him at
one point that I kind of felt like I had to push but it wasn’t strong enough
for me to act on it so I ignored it. We both kind of shrugged it off and
assumed there was NO WAY that it could be time yet.

I knew when I went through transition with my
son that I was blacking out almost in between contractions and was throwing up
in between contractions so I assumed I would do that this time as well and we
would use transition as a sign that it was time to go to the hospital. I was
very adamant that I did not want to spend very much time in labor at the
hospital since I was there for over 12 hours with my son and I would much
rather labor at home. I noticed the urge to push continued to get stronger
and I continued to ignore it as I felt like I was not far enough along. I did
notice the contractions were much more intense and I was less and less focused
on my worship music during the contractions as I had been before. I only
focused on making the low O sound to get through them.

However a part of me knew that we had to leave
for the hospital very soon and I was hoping that my in-laws would show up
quickly. I remember they finally arrived and I had a contraction probably the
second they walk through the door and my father-in-law quickly made his way
upstairs to my son’s room haha. My son was awake but he stayed in his room because
he did not have the OK from his “OK to wake” light.

Soon after they walked in the door my husband
ran to get the car ready to go. He had to pull out of our garage and he backed
into a parking spot right by our door. I remember hearing the car back up and
right then I had a very strong
contraction, heard a popping sound, and felt a gush of water rush out of me.
Part of me freaked out because I never experienced that with my son but I
quickly put together what happened and my first thought was that I needed to
change my underwear before I got in the car, haha.

So I got up and ran to the bathroom before
another contraction and got my underwear halfway down before having another
contraction. I was standing in the bathroom leaning over the
counter and I could not move. I could not even bend down to finish taking off
my underwear. I asked my husband to run upstairs and get me another pair and
told him I had to go pee before we could leave. I also told him that he had to
finish taking off my underwear because I could NOT move. He ran upstairs and
came back with three or four pairs (I’m not sure why, but I remember thinking
it was so funny, haha). I had one other contraction when he was upstairs and I
knew baby girl was on her way.

I told him that I could not move and that she
was coming now!!

At this point you could tell that I was pushing
during the contractions. He yelled to his mom to call 911 and I had another
contraction. I remember telling him that I could feel the “ring of fire” and I
knew that meant she was crowning. The next thing I know the 911 operator was on
speaker in the bathroom and she was telling me to lay down. I remember telling
her there was no way I was able to lay down because I still feel like I could
not move. I was still standing leaning over the countertop in the bathroom
pushing during contractions. However I remembered that I had read delivering on
your hands and knees was one of the best ways to prevent tearing so I told her
that I would get onto my hands and knees and I somehow was able to do that in
between contractions because they were coming so fast at that point. Someone thought to get towels thankfully I’m not
sure if it was the 911 operator, my husband, or my mother-in-law, but I
remember pushing and I remember the 911 operator asking my husband if he could
see baby girl’s head. My husband said no at first and one push later I remember
him very excitedly saying that he was holding her head and that her head was
almost delivered. Once her whole head was out the ambulance arrived and the EMT
came and delivered the rest of our baby girl in the bathroom of our apartment.
I remember when her head was delivered taking a pause asking the EMT if it was
OK to wait to push until I felt the urge to. It felt like a long pause but he said
that is totally fine and to just “do what you gotta do”. Seconds later, our
baby girl was born right there in our bathroom.

Because I was on my hands
and knees, I could not see her when she was born. At one point (time seemed to
go slowly after her birth) I glanced over my shoulder and saw that he was
cleaning off her skin and I noticed that she was bluish in color and she had
not yet made any sounds. I asked him if everything was ok and he quickly
reassured me that she was totally fine and that she was breathing. (My doula
later told me that it is pretty common for babies to not be crying at birth if
they are not born under a stressful situation).

I remember asking him, “Can
I please have her?” and he informed me that he was unwrapping the cord from around
her stomach and one of her legs. I think I asked him about 3 more times if I
could have her yet.

Around this time, one of the
firemen came holding the things needed to clamp and cut her umbilical cord and
we told them that we really would like to delay clamping her cord and they all
were very quick to say something along the lines of “sure, no problem!” which I
was super appreciative of them being so “go with the flow” on.

Once that was over, I
remember asking again if I could hold
my baby now and the paramedic finally told me that I really needed to stand up
if he was going to pass her under me. (haha, I guess I had not thought about
that before). So I stood up and we passed her between my legs and I finally got
to hold and get a good look at my baby girl! I could not believe how tiny she
was and how much hair she had!

I was only wearing a bra at
this point so someone came and put a sheet over me and they informed me that
they could not get the gurney into our apartment so I was going to have to walk
over to it. So there I am, only wearing a sheet, holding my new baby, with her
attached umbilical cord as I walked through my house out to get onto the
gurney, ha!

I remember walking past our
neighbors as they frantically asked if everything was ok and asked if I had the
baby there, haha. They later informed me that they were all really freaked out
when they saw the ambulance arrive.

I asked my husband to get me
some water (I am always SUPER thirsty during and right after labor!) and I got
a quick sip before they lowered me off the sidewalk (I only mention that
because I remember freaking out about them lowering me down and mentioning that
I totally trusted them but that I was nervous to have them lower me for some
reason, haha).

As they wheeled me over to
the ambulance, I asked them if my husband would be able to ride with us and
they agreed and then my husband saw that our son was up and was coming down the
stairs with his grandpa. He asked them if they could hold off for a minute so
our toddler could meet his baby sister. They were more than happy to let him
meet her before leaving. However, I guess that our son had accidentally hit his
head on the way down the stairs so he was crying. I did not know this at the
time, so all I see is my 3 year old crying as he sees me sitting in the back of
an ambulance, so then I started freaking out that he was upset because he
thought something was wrong with me. Thankfully, my husband got the story from
grandpa and was able to quickly reassure me that was not the case and that he
had just bumped his head and was upset from that.

My husband hopped into the
ambulance and we left for the 3-minute drive to the hospital. I remember
commenting that it was really warm inside the ambulance (for the baby) and I
said something about how it was both my and baby girl’s first ride in the back
of an ambulance (obviously something I hope to never have to do again…and it
was not the first time my husband had been in one…). One of the paramedics commented
that he really likes these calls when no one is hurt and its more of a happier emergency
haha.

We arrived at the hospital
and my doula greeted us right when the doors were opened to the back of the
truck. (She missed my birth by about 10 minutes!)

We were wheeled to an
L&D room where I was then asked about a million questions (many were the
same asked multiple times) and stabbed multiple times (is it obvious that I
hate needles…ha! But seriously, I’ve never seen so much blood from someone
putting in an IV…insert eye roll here, haha…)

During this time, I was just
holding our daughter and saying “I can’t believe that just happened” to my
husband. I remember asking them for water probably 300 times and they refused
to give me anything (not even ice) until I delivered the placenta. Remember how
I said I get super thirsty after labor? I was not happy. I seriously felt like
I had been running for miles on a hot summer day…that’s how thirsty I was,
haha. They finally decided to cut her umbilical cord and my husband got to do
his hour of skin to skin.

I remember asking the nurses
if it was normal for my placenta delivery to take so long and they continued to
assure me that it was totally normal for it to take a while sometimes. We were
still waiting for the on-call doctor to arrive (it was the Sunday before Labor
Day). I tried pushing a few times but was totally uncomfortable lying on my
back. Finally the doctor arrived and I’m pretty sure he pulled the placenta out
at that point (aka…it was extremely painful!) He then checked to see if I had
torn at all (I was super curious to find out!) and he concluded, (after
painfully checking and me yelling, “Dude! Stop!” at him, haha not sure where
that came from) that I only had a first degree tear and that it was not even
going to need any stitches (hurray!!!!!! I was a little excited about that!).

After that, they FINALLY got
me a huge cup of water (which I downed almost instantly) and they let my doula
come into the room with us. I then finally got to nurse my baby girl for the
first time and our doula heard the story and she took the time to take some
photos of us all.

Once they got me all cleaned
up, we walked over to our postpartum room. My husband and I spent most of the
day saying to each other, “I seriously can not believe that happened” haha.

Both of our parents came to
meet our baby girl (and they brought me coffee and bacon, haha, that is what I
wanted once I was done delivering the placenta ;) )

And of course, one of my
other favorite parts of the day was seeing our 3 year old. My husband held our
daughter when our son first got there so he could run up to see me and make
sure I was ok. He was very excited to see me and asked if baby sister was out
of my tummy now, haha. He then got to meet his baby sister for the first time,
after asking when she would be there for the past few months, and he has been
obsessed with her ever since!

He seriously is the BEST big
brother ever! He is so incredibly helpful with bringing me diapers or burp
cloths. He’s always checking on her (even sometimes at 3 in the morning, haha)
and he always wants to hold her and give her hugs and kisses.

We are all completely in
love with her (she totally already has daddy wrapped around her finger…pretty
much from the day she was born) and are so happy that she is finally here! We
are so glad that God was watching over all of us on that morning that she was
born and have decided that if we do have any more children, we will probably go
with a planned home birth. ;)

I cannot believe how quickly this pregnancy is going by. I
am officially in my third trimester now! We are all so excited to welcome this
baby girl into our lives and while three months still seems like a lot of time,
I know it will go by so quickly.

I feel like since this is our second baby, there is not a
ton extra that we have to buy, but I have been loving to look around and pick
out a few special things just for her. When we had my son, we purposefully
chose gender-neutral baby gear in order to be able to use them for any future
children we may have. And I feel like we did the same this time as well while
throwing in a few really girly things. ;)

Now that things are beginning to get closer to meeting our
sweet baby girl, I am feeling the pressure to begin rounding up all of our baby
gear from our son and fill in the pieces with things that I feel are needed for
this baby (and of course, I want to get her a few special things of her own as
well.) Here are a few of the things I have gathered for her preparation.

Have you ever woken up early on a gorgeous morning and
thought to yourself, how is it already (fill in the blank)?

I did that this morning. I woke up at 5:30am to use the
restroom (hello pregnancy!) and it hit me, it was almost summer! We have been
having gorgeous weather here lately (like in the 80s….where its normally over
100 degrees in the summer) and I’m sad to say we haven’t been taking advantage
of it as much as I wish we had.

So, I knew I wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep, so I got
up to start the coffee and spend some time with Jesus. After that I decided to
make a plan for our summer….our last summer as a family of 3! You can think of
it kind of like a bucket list or a to-do list, but I’m mostly using this as a
space to write out my thoughts (pregnancy brain has not been kind to me this
time, haha) and ideas for this summer before we welcome our baby girl.

I seriously was completely surprised you guys! We are all so
excited, even my 3-year-old son can’t wait to meet his baby sister!

We had our gender reveal party on Saturday, March 24th.
We had actually gone to the ultrasound appointment a week before so it was
really hard knowing we had the results and I just had to wait. But my friend
who took the results and did the reveal for us was amazing at keeping it a
secret even when I tried to get some clues out of her, haha.

I wanted to keep the party theme simple (but I do love
decorating for a party!) so I went with the theme “How I wonder what you are”.
Here is a photo of our set up! Isn’t it pretty! Don't mind the empty bowl haha, we filled it with salsa soon after I took this picture ;)

So it's been a while since I’ve written much here (I’ve been
slightly more active on my YouTube, but even that has been quiet for a while
now).

If you haven’t heard our exciting news yet, we are expecting
baby number 2! I haven’t said much about this because it was really just very
difficult for me to try to discuss, but my husband and I have been trying for
another baby for almost 2 years now, so we are so excited and are trusting in
God’s perfect timing with this baby.

Hey, I’m Sheila! I’m married to my high school sweetheart and mama to a very busy toddler and a sweet baby girl. I created this space to share what I love and what I’m learning about motherhood. I’m not afraid to share my love for Christ; my family; and, of course, coffee! Feel free to stick around and make yourself comfortable!